4 Methods for Writing Out-of-the-Box Lyrics
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- Опубликовано: 28 май 2024
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Want to break out of boring lyric-writing habits and stale cliches? In this video, I show you 4 specific methods (with step-by-step instructions and examples) for how to write unconventional, abstract, quirky lyrics that work.
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Resources mentioned in the video:
www.b-rhymes.com/
perchance.org/concrete-noun
www.languageisavirus.com/cutu...
For more on Slant/Imperfect Rhyming, check out this video on our channel: • The Mistake All Beginn...
In my word ladders I’ve stopped using the ‘stuff in the room’ (gets old after one or two goes), and instead I grab a book, turn to a random page, and then write down the first 10 nouns I read
That's a really good idea
You can also do "Things in a grocery store," or "at a park" or whatever. Because you're right, my room doesn't change enough to keep it interesting.
this is good
so that would make it a novel line : ) clever i would think from my page or reading of your comment note. a C sharp of course and a big thanks for your word perspective. i was taught to grab words out of the air, probably why you've never heard my sky songs.
But to compliment a singer-songwriter of yesterday, "I've looked at Clouds from both sides now" Wishing you & all who read this, the best in their song writing endeavor(s).
I hadn't thought of that! I'd been doing the word ladder exercise and I'd been struggling to find new nouns.
I'm the complete opposite. I naturally write obscure and unusual lyrics but struggle to give my songs a more focused and clear narrative. I always keep in some of the best weird lines though, when they fit. But I always avoid cliches, and never ever use the word "baby".
Cmon now baby
Never say never, baby!
@@mr.k905 Actually you're right. If I had to refer to an actual infant then I may need to use that term one day. I just never use it as a filler word.
@@NewFalconerRecords Why not? Constraining yourself is useless when you want to be creative.
I know that sometimes people think that certain words are cliché and therefor tabu, but mostly this is due to a lack of imagination. There is ALWAYS a way to use EVERY word in a more interesting way.
@@mr.k905 I totally agree with you. Cliches are fun to mess with. Often if you just substitute one word for another you can make something fresh. That's the thing. Using words in an interesting way, as you said. But don't just put in a "baby" because it fills two syllables. Come up with another word, or use it ironically. I think we more in agreement than you thihk.
you dont know how many lives you impact with your teaching,
my name is Phumlani from South Africa, thank you
Much appreciated!
Fr. Im from Brasil and im shocked with this ideias
Yes, absolutely!😊
Salve @@PedroLopes-kd3ef
My current favourite is another Tweedy-inspired technique. I take a title, put it in a box in the middle of the page, and then free-associate from the words in the title. Great technique, takes you some weird places. Word ladders also work brilliantly with adjectives and nouns from subjects completely unrelated. Yesterday, my list was winter adjectives and dance nouns…arctic ballet…hmmm…right…there’s a title for the first technique!
As an ever learning human being (artist), I wanted to share some gratitude and say Thank You for making this video. It's reminded me, again, that creating is about having fun. That's priceless, and to hold firmly at the front of my mind. Keep It Simple, Awesome stuff, have a great day!
Watching this channel is helpful because I'm a natural songwriter who has always written spontaneously and autobiographically, and combined with my love for darker music, I have a history of writing my best songs when things suck. As a result I am basically scared of being happy or calm because "there will be nothing to write about". Aside from the fact that it's a stupid thought (but it's obsessive and I can't get over it), it feels nice to remember that not everything has to be about my immediate experience and you can just immerse yourself in words and let the subconscious do its own thing. So even though I don't have an issue with writing songs as such, it would be nice to experiment with different ways of doing it to relieve my anxiety lol
Amazing song writers speak in the same way they write almost like they’ve completely changed the way their brain thinks about language. He’s not a singer, but Eminem for example, when he speaks in interviews I swear he speaks in poems
IMO Probably the best YT channel for songwriting. Thanks Keppie!
Another great trick for getting "out of the box" with your writing, related to the "Cut Up" method, is (surprise, surprise) Magnetic Poetry sets. Magnetic Poetry is a company that started producing refrigerator magnet sets about 30 years ago, of words that you could rearrange into poems.
I have been writing word lists as a way of generating potential poems and songs for about 20 years. I recently dug out my first hand-made (yes I often make my own) notebook and recognized lyrics that I have already used for songs and realized that it still contains ideas for future songs. However, I just write/wrote words randomly as they occurred in my head like a kind of word association with myself. Each word appearing in my head without any criteria whatsover and adding it to the list regardless of how leftfield it is.
One important thing to consider is that sometimes I used words from the list and sometimes the list just begins to turn into short phrases and kick starts the writing process without using anything on the list. Sometimes I circle words randomly and try to connect them.
Tweedy's book is the most practical and helpful book I've read on songwriting. I enjoy doing that exercise and it's given me some really great word combinations. I will often change the verb list to adjectives or other nouns and I don't always try to write from the entire list, just the combinations that strike me as unique and useful. I will sometimes just pull up a list of interesting adjectives or verbs and nouns and list them out in a spreadsheet, mix up the order of one list and paste it next to the other to see what comes up.
Thanks for the tips ❤
The second segment reminded me of one of my personal proudest slang rhymes, which was concrete and heartbeat.
One of my favorite weird methods that I use is to sing your existing lyrics in a different or less-enunciated voice, and use the power of mishearing words to come up with more interesting lyrics. There are so many times where I’ve misheard lyrics that were either more interesting or more emotional than the actual words, so using that has been helpful in my own work from time to time.
I need to learn more about lyrics, you are very helpful. I start off really good, then I stop for a day or so. I get back to it, it starts being more of a story. After that I feel like I have to start a whole new one. (As of right now, take a daybreak. Look back at it tomorrow.)
Brilliant video! I was surprised how well some of my unrelated couplets could fit together. Some fave stanzas from my attempts:
Not blue, not green, defiant teal / here's a piece that doesn't fit the set / no net, no safety, stairs with no rail / small and crooked and bent
A stove too hot / How long is this interval? / Plans we'll botch / one year has turned to several
We stood, breathing in at the lookout rail / over the edge, water so clear / your eyes and the sky the same color teal / a tug inside says, "deeper, deeper"
Gosh! So lovely!
Thanks! This was enlightening!
Fantastic lesson. Thankyou.
Very cool!!! "As birds outside go supernova."
As always an awesome and practical video and so nice to hear an Aussie voice 😊
Brilliant video!
Brilliant, thank you so much!😊
This is a fabulous lesson. I love words! Thank you!
Thank you for taking the time to make these videos.
I love this!!!! Feels more me!!!
This is very helpful thank you! I’ll have to look out for that book
You're the best. You help lot. Bravo!
These exercises have been so much fun to do! Thank you so much for all your great content on songwriting. I higly appreciate it💛
I can't wait to try this!!
That is some great information..Thank you for sharing it!
Wow! This is a treasure trove of amazing techniques. Thank you so much!
I love the idea of a verb database!
thank you for these--all of these will help my own songwriting teaching!
Thank you for this video! Very usefull!
Great Video! Thanks!
Highly inspirational and highly practical! Thank you so much
This was an excellent video! Really enjoyed! It's given me inspiration to go back to my many incomplete melodies/chord progressions & try a make something of them!!
Super cool!!!
Have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this video.
Thank you for this gift to help with the current road block that is now in front of me. You are a gem!
Great episode, Keppie 👌
Thank You for being a down-to-earth enthusiastic teacher
There is joy on your face & excitement in your eyes when you present your tips & methods
That plus excellent exercises 👌
Thank you for this meaningful and superb content.⭐️⭐️
superfun and I actually got an almost-decent lyric to polish up out of the aabb to abab rhyme scheme. I think that these sorts of 'theatre sports for songwriters' help us trust the process, too. The other day I was with a group of women in a creative sort of networking group. We were instructed to write 1st lines of haiku with specific focus--just that line--then hide our line, and pass it to the next person to write the 2nd line, and so on. With just some simple instruction and intention we came up with several little poems we all liked.
So far the first method is a real boon for a novice, thank you, and it's a great resource for me.
Thank you so much for free pdf ! Love your content, thanks for all the tips !
Fantastic!
Thanks for these.
Thank you so much for the content you post (and the pdf's you provide!)
I've been following your channel for a while now as I've been getting more and more into songwriting and it's been an amazing source for guidance, practice and learning. Keep up the fantastic work!! ❤
Cheers!
Thanks! I struggle with this. These are excellent ideas. And you’re an outstanding teacher. You explain things clearly, and you are genuinely enthusiastic and positive about songwriting. 🎖️
I love love love your videos. Everytime I sit and watch them, I instantly start wanting to write things 😍
Right, lets open my google sheets 🤣
This is great.I have always used a rhyming dictionary as well😎
I've been a singer since I was a child and I've been in many bands. I'm 56 now and currently in a cover band but mainly '90s alternative rock. But We start every set with a stream of consciousness jam. A different song every practice. And a different member pics what they want to start the song off with a guitar riff a baseline So happy to discover this resource to inspire my creativity and make connections that are unique yet still common associations turned on their head. I'm very excited by your instructions! Kudos from Miami Beach!
Thank you!
In order to write a great song one must first tell a great story. And then search out how to tell that story with words that rhyme and are meaningful to the story.
This so so fun. I’m gonna get addicted to this.
I’m a regular watcher .. thanks for the help… still feel stuck in cliche land but I stick to the process, lately I write songs with the intent on throwing them away just to finish one without any pressure or expectation of it being heard
Thank you so much guys!You are actually my lifesaver. My friend showed me a video of yours and that's how I ended up here. I'm doing my second Bachelor's in Songwriting now here in UK. I was having(still does whenever an assignment pops up) a hard time with my assignments to write songs and the techniques and information you provide over here are so valuable. I do have certain course material resources with me but when it's all about assignments, I need a quick guidance. Please do keep uploading new content. Thanks again :)
This is exactly what i needed... I'll also have to check out JT's book :-)
I loved Tweedy's book. I've read many books on songwriting and composition, and I recommend that book to everyone, regardless of where they might be in their own songwriting journey. Cheers!
Fascinating video...Thank you! One interesting thing that happened when, in the first section, you put together your little word poem that made no sense I immediately was reminded of the Beatles "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" and "I Am The Walrus". Both have so many word play lines that make no sense per se but paint a wonderful picture. John Lennon was obviously a master at that style and I've often wondered how he could come up with such magical imagery. I think you just gave me a bit of an insight on how to approach it!
It's a greate value 😊😊
thank you!
My one ended up as:
There’s nothing in this heat,
Let the string of your balloon,
Or that flimsy pale mystique,
Drift away this lazy June.
Did it work? 🤔
Might just use “let the string of your balloon, drift away this lazy June” thanks so much
Very nice!
OK, so I've been subscribed for a while but this is the first video that really hit me. Turned me from someone who, yeah, would like to write songs, to someone who now believes I can. Brilliant presentation and yes I had heard the Bowie, cut up method years ago. I even used to know a horse race betting junkie who used the same method to pick his horses. 'The Bewley Brothers' is probably my all time favourite Bowie song and has been since 'Hunky Dory' first came out, over 50 years ago now. I started reading books a lot a few years ago, having heard it was a good source of inspiration for lyrics, but this takes the cake. I read more when on my annual grey nomad expeditions to fish tropical beaches during the winter and this year I will have something concrete to work on while waiting for a bite. Thank you. I'll probably check out your courses once I hit the road again.
Autocorrect can also be a great source of whacky ideas.
You absolutely can write songs :) And you can make solid progress in 5-10 chunks of time (when you know what to do with them!).
Thanks!
First time commenting here: This was super helpful, and it helps enormously to get out of that stale zone. It doesn't take long either to get a working song going. Thank you, Keppie
You're welcome :)
I use the cut up method with a set of magnetic poetry, it's less scissor intensive.
Don't know what can do without you from Africa ❤
Thank you! You helped me write my first song!
Wonderful!
A WAFFLE BREAKFAST WILL ALSO HELP SONGWRITING
Jeff Tweedy does a similar technique to exercise 4 where he highlights lines in books that he likes. Thanks so much for the video. It was excellent!!!
Thank you
Great exercises! …But in the end I think, lyrics are better when they express something specific nevertheless. Those are the ones that the listener can identify with.
In contrast, with those yellow, giddy exacerbations of a carpet on someone's space trampoline, he hardly has a chance to do so ; ) Although it might be interesting and unconventional, most people will just mentally scroll over something like this. I believe that it can only become truly great art if it is able to combine the absurd with the meaningful and touching.
😂 the exercise is actually funny too. Sounds fun and exciting. I'm going to try tonight.
I would love to get a critique of some of my lyrics. I feel like I overthink a lot when I’m writing but then I try really hard to not be a cliché and I always want to make sure that the song has context and tells some form of story otherwise it’s just words.
My system.
Write a narrative story first person.
1. POV, Setting, Experience of journey or action told directly like a kid telling you what happened and where.
2. Line by line provide commentary with descriptive words of phase 1.
3. Sub out cohesive narrative with descriptive language and follow line by line.
Swap out sections from 1 with 2 and 3.
A cohesive narrative, poem or story at is maintained while colorful story telling is added maintaining clarity.
Edit: Never actually did this but I’m sure it would work 😂
I just watched a video of a songwriter I know. The video and music were very interesting - the lyrics not so much. He could use this video. I’m going to re-post this and put it in my tool box. Thanks! P.S. The noun -verb exercise is part of Pat Pattison’s teaching on metaphors.
Religion and precision are used in the song “Don’t preach to me” by the skallwags!
I'm stopping after the first method, because I feel inspired off of my lists. I'll revisit this video over the next few days for the other methods. I'm so inspired right now I couldn't even contain it. Off I go!
That's amazing! Go go go!
First recommendation to any writer is read read read. Then write write write. Then drink drink drink. Rinse and repeat, not necessarily in that order.
0:02 you really made me laugh 😅 Thank you for that. Some jokes won't hurt along the way. Song writing supposed to be fun.😂 Thank you.
Subscribed. 🤲🏽
I use Roget's Thesaurus. This book holds trillions of possible song lyrics. It is my go-to book for inspiration.
13:48 sounds like a line from The Next Day album 💿
“As birds outside go supernova”….Beautiful!
This 13:48 is just GENIUS
Just the part in the first 2 minutes about having verbs but relating to the nouns made something click for a song I've been stuck on for YEARS
Actually I think it's just the notion that verbs can fit a theme, which should be obvious but I'm always thinking about object imagery and not so much actions
I love this video. The thing that ALWAYS troubles me is that I constantly write/play the same things over and over.
Step 2 of the vocabulary ladder... when matching words from verb to noun list. Is it okay if more than one word gets the same match and what happens if one or so many words get left out?
My favorite lyrics are ones that have no rhyme scheme, at all, because they have no rhymes, at all.
Here's an example from my song, "Neverwhen":
Bury me in Winter
And don't ever come to look for me
I've given all my memories away
There's hope for you yet
In everything and nothing
Should Summer come
And never I will fall
Great video and insights. One question tho: are these exercises meant to be applied when you already have an idea in mind but you don’t know how to develop your lyrics? Or could these methods be applied when you have no idea beforehand? Or a combination of both perhaps? These tools are really great to develop your own unique style but it could be quite challenging when you don’t know what to write about…
Definitely a combo of both!
This exercise led me to write these lyrics. Definitely outside of the box from my conventional / typical writing style. It was a very refreshing exercise that I will continue to use. Thank you!
Your picture speaks to me as the stereo chatters
The dog is drinking from a cup
My wife is on a chair outside by the pool
Mumbling about nothing that matters
The voice in my head roars like a speaker
And I sigh out the window like some kind of fool
I need someone to talk to beside's this plant
Could it be that I've lost my cool.
Sounds cool!
“I need someone to talk to besides this plant” 😂 Love it 👍
Very cool!
This was really a great lesson! I've got a question that kept popping up in my brain, though... as a writer of country songs, which are generally gritty story songs and very grounded in reality, does anyone have suggestions for applying these exercises? And would you, Keppie, consider doing a how-to video on writing exciting, yet "reality-based" song lyrics that avoid cliches, etc., like you talk about here? Thanks a million!
Ditto! I gravitate toward ballads like Big Iron or Boy Named Sue
Then I stumbled on Townes Van Zandt’s ‘Pancho & Lefty’ 😳
Lines like;
“Now you wear your skin like iron & your breath’s as hard as kerosene” &
“His horse was fast as polished steel”
I marvel at those lyrics and want to write like that-if only once in awhile!
@@wwjjss33 I hear ya, but still would love some help on writing stuff more grounded in reality w/o sounding trite or cliche
Pick a setting
Pick one or a few characters
Write a summary about the story you want to tell
Make an outline
And use some of the methods she taught
Also, come up with a few details that are specific
He slams the door shut
After shouting something that'll cut
For the next few weeks
He'll be the only thing I'll seek
If only I could snap my eyes shut
Snap my fingers twice
And make everything nice again
If only I could clap my hands once
Love without a price
And make everything nice again
But he still throws the keys on the hardwood floor
Claims he won't ever come back through that door
And I know someday that'll be a reality
But I pray, and I pray that day hasn't yet come for me
Not today, oh Lord, please
Obviously this is just something I came up with on the spot, but as you can see, it has some story elements. It's still poetryish but has a story you can follow. I know my story is a little cliché, but the technique for any story song can be relatively the same.
Mixing together random sentences or words you find in comments under videos is fun also. I like to find different videos on a certain subject like love and go through the comments to get ideas, lines, words, and stories 😁
These were great! I liked the result of the 1st one especially.
Rising tides beneath feet that warm mine
Her ears flutter as I near
Her shirt drives over mine
Instruments waking in such
Movement as our lips touch
The flood comes from us
Another dessert I fear
I'm going to try keeping a common theme across multiple practice attempts to see if I can do a whole song.
Very cool!
"the flood comes from us" gave me chills
I like word ladders, found rhyming pairs a bit tougher, the rhyming scheme is a bit luck of the draw and I want to try the cut method with some of my own ramblings which I can’t get going. Cheers.
i find it interesting how you pronounce a hard R when saying "outer space" :)
Watching this not because I wanted to write songs. I just want to improve my poetry writing
Wish me goodluck😊, as I need to make up an original song due next week😢 and I don't even know a single bit of writing a song or even writing rhyming words and english is my second language, this is so difficult😅 i can't even sing a song 😂
Having done a word ladder, pairing words, and then ‘sentencing’ them 😉 I got;
-Morning After-
morning after a night with you
I slurp the paper pensively
while the dog guzzles his morning water
& you imbibe your screen
a drunken editor throwing back book after book
last night at open mic
we chugged the microphone
as the audience inhaled the speakers
you, quaffed the lens of the gawker
I, gulped the lamp light
my head slaked by my hat
we downed a carafe of wine
then we sipped moonlight
***
A lyric I derived was;
-Come Sip The Moonlight-
Come sip the moonlight with me, Love
We’ll down a carafe of mulled wine
We’ll inhale the night
Til the moons out of sight
And gulp down the morning’s sunshine
🤷🏻
Both so good! I loved this: we chugged the microphone
as the audience inhaled the speakers
I was thinking of abcabcdd rhyme scheme
I cry to the ceiling,
and complain to the sun.
I call the fan my best friend
as I scream at the roosters
and as I Apologize to the window,
I write songs on the pillow.
I take a long drive with my roommate,
but I can still feel the phone buzz
as I lie in the kitchen
I accept it as my new bed.
Setting up a timer is a must
btw 2100th like